Looking around at his current predicament, Rich couldn't help but reflect that he really should have seen this all coming. He had never been a lucky person. Everything that could go wrong always seemed to go wrong, sometimes in catastrophic ways he hadn't even thought possible. Just looking back since his arrival in Andromeda provided countless examples.
Corrupted homeworlds, missing arks and Pathfinders, rebellion, and finally the shitshow that was Kadara. That one was his own fault, though. He could have stayed safely on the Nexus, but his own stubbornness and irritation with how the higher-ups were handling things had led to him voluntarily choosing exile. Although apparently the Nexus hadn't exactly been safe either.
When they heard about the attack on the Nexus, Rich of course volunteered with plenty of others to go lend a hand. He'd caught a ride with Reyes, joining the ground troops and hoping to lend his skills as a doctor. And now, here he was on some sort of hollow planet fighting for the fate of humanity. No big deal, right? Once again, though, this was his own damn fault. But then, what was he supposed to do, stay back on Kadara while all hell broke loose here? At least he wasn't a Pathfinder. Small blessings, and all that. He definitely didn't envy the responsibility and attention all on Ryder.
Out here under the artificial daylight, Rich only had to contend with debris raining down from exploding ships as well as all the kett shooting at him. He kept his head down, trying to drag wounded allies out of the line of fire so he could tend to them, occasionally even getting a shot off. He was much too old for this and the strain was already getting to him. There was a reason he'd settled down in his tiny little clinic.
Things can happen much too quickly on the battlefield. He really should have been paying closer attention. One second he was trying to make it from cover to cover to get to a fallen soldier. The next, he looked back and realized he was too far away from the front lines of the fighting. He was getting closed in and there was no way he'd be able to get back. He bandaged up his patient as best he could and settled in, hoping he could hold his own until- well, he wasn't exactly sure what. Reinforcements were unlikely and things were looking pretty grim.
He surprised himself with how well he was able to hold his own, shooting any kett that approached. He guessed they were mostly uninterested in a single lone human when the real fighting was elsewhere. Unfortunately it didn't take long for one of those invisible creatures to materialize directly beside him. Of course, he thought with a weary sigh.
He wasn't as young as he used to be. There was no chance of him getting out of the way in time. He was much too slow, the thing jumping on top of him and knocking him to the ground. Rich managed to get a shot off, the thing going limp half on top of him, but not until after it's claws raked across his chest, tearing apart his armor like it was nothing.
Lying on his back like this, feeling himself bleeding out, the sounds of the battlefield slowly faded away. High above, Rich could see the tessellated pattern of the shell of the planet through the blue of the sky. Strangely enough it brought to mind an old vid he and his sister had watched as a child and he couldn't help but smile at the memory. Perhaps it has been prophetic that the doctor had almost died in that. 'Almost.' Rich doubted he'd be as lucky.
"'For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky,'" he quoted, chuckling a little. He regretted that immediately as he fell into a coughing fit. He winced at the strain, wondering if reinforcements would come in time. Or if it would take them days to find his body. If they even won this battle. "Sorry, Reyes. I fucked up."